Chasing Sunshine
by TheSarahStar
Summary: Imagine this: you and your girlfriend have recently broken up, and you haven't seen her in a while. Things start to get weird when all of a sudden, you find out that she's mysteriously gone missing, but that's not all - just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, well... They do.
1. Missing

**I don't even know what this is, to be honest. It started out as a line, and that line turned into a paragraph, which eventually became a oneshot, and somehow it evolved into a proper story :P**

**Me don't own SWAC, the characters, or any of the lines from the show that I may use at any point in this story. Well, have fun reading!**

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_**Chasing Sunshine**_

_**Chapter One: Missing**_

Chad Dylan Cooper was bored. Mr Condor had decided to give everyone a month's break after all the drama that followed the Tween Choice Awards, and it was only the third day of this aforementioned break, but Chad already hated it because he had nothing to do. He was lying on his bed in the master bedroom of his massive mansion, and flicking through television channels, looking for something decent to watch. His eyes widened when an image of Sonny suddenly appeared on the huge TV screen, and he stopped channel-surfing. He sighed – he hadn't seen her since their oh-so-dramatic breakup, the day after the awards… Not that he cared anymore, of course. He began listening to what the entertainment news channel had to say about her nevertheless.

"America's television sweetheart, Sonny Munroe, has mysteriously gone missing." At this point, Chad let out an involuntary gasp of shock, but caught himself and continued to listen to the woman on the screen speak, "No-one knows for sure where she is at the moment, or why she suddenly left. Police have been searching for her since she was reported missing one week ago. A source close to her says she'd been depressed ever since her rocky relationship with Hollywood's bad boy, Chad Dylan Cooper, ended, and she's been driven to suicide by it, but no proof of this has been found."

One week ago. One week after the break-up.

That couldn't be true, could it? Chad couldn't help but feel a little worried. What if there was some truth to this? What if Sonny hadn't been able to handle living without him, and had actually gotten so depressed that she killed herself? He hoped she hadn't, because sure, he liked his image of being a sexy badass, but the idea of being imprisoned for indirect murder wasn't exactly very appealing. That would either do wonders for him, or kill his career completely, and he wasn't prepared to take such a risk.

The reported continued, "Other sources tell us that her ego got the better of her, and she couldn't bear to see Mackenzie Falls winning a Tween Choice Award over So Random, or watch her boyfriend win instead of herself."

Now, _that_ sounded a little more believable. He rolled his eyes, and sighed. _Egotistical bitch. _The girl was no better at handling defeat than Chad himself!

The woman spoke again, "A source close to Sonny believes that after breaking up with Chad, Sonny found out that she was pregnant and decided to escape from the spotlight to avoid her good-girl image being destroyed. Of course, Chad would've known about this, but with an image like his, he doesn't have anything to worry about!"

Chad knew that story was total fiction. They'd done nothing of that sort, and she couldn't possibly have been pregnant – unless, of course, she'd been cheating on him. That was a possibility, and so he decided that he was glad they'd broken up; a decent person like Chad Dylan Cooper would never want to date her if she was like _that_.

And only to add insult to injury, the TV channel was showing a part of one of Sonny's mini-interviews, from the day after 'Channy' broke up, in which she was whining about how selfish he was. Chad had seen it that very day and was cursing her afterwards. (He regretted that now, however, in case something bad had actually happened to her.) The fact that they'd broken up was irrelevant, but there was no way she could just go and talk about him like that in public. Well, she could, because she was Sonny. She was annoying like that.

But none of that mattered. The bigger question was, _where had she gone_?

Chad didn't know, and he kept telling himself that he didn't _want _to know. For a moment, he'd managed to convince himself that he didn't care at all. But he knew he had to find out, otherwise the curiosity would probably just kill him. And maybe, just _maybe_, he still did care about her a little…

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**Well, that's all. Let me know what you think so far! Leave a review, PM me, I don't mind as long as you give your opinion. :)**

**-Sarah :D**


	2. Lies

**Hey guys! Just to let y'all know, this story has nothing to do with any songs that just so happen to share the title. In fact, I've written my own little song to go with this… It might make an appearance later in the story. Maybe. :P**

**To swac twilight14: Now that I think about it, that line does indeed remind **_**me **_**of your story too! Yup, you are my ultimate awesome fan. Congratulations! :D**

**Without any further delay, here is chapter 2.**

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_**Chasing Sunshine**_

_**Chapter Two: Lies**_

He sat alone in the half-lit room, letting his chair rock slowly, back and forth. His face, although pale, was hidden in the darkness, and the low light was focused on the photograph in his hand, which he observed closely in a bout of extreme concentration. And suddenly, hiding there, the man grinned. This looked real enough, all right – there wouldn't be any doubts about that in the minds of the world. Although slightly _personal_, so to say, it didn't faze him even slightly. He wasn't generally used to seeing things like this; it wasn't exactly his forte, but he merely didn't feel the need to let petty things affect the direction of his thoughts.

And this petty thing that happened to be resting in his very hands… It was a photo, and it was just perfect for the magazines. It showed two people – a guy and a girl – who were standing in an elevator, with their faces clearly visible. Well, this just so happened to be an exclusive image of the two people who had been taking over every magazine cover in the country recently – _Channy_.

Why exactly was this image _exclusive_, you ask? Well, it was exclusive because it was fake. Yes, this was just another very professional-looking edit – an idea that had come straight from the devious mind of James Conroy himself. The two people in the image, who just so happened to be very similarly built to the couple in question, had posed for the image, and ten minutes of editing later, they looked exactly like Chad Dylan Cooper and Sonny Munroe.

_It was perfect_.

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"Okay, let me get this straight. You're telling me, you watch over the security camera system at the Hilton, and you saw Channy making out in the elevator last night?" The almost-bald man looked at the young photographer – or _liar_, as some would correctly call him – in a state of disbelief.

"Yes, Marshall," James replied with a sigh, "How many times are you gonna make me tell you this?!"

"I'm sure you could let me ask one more question."

"Go on."

"How could they be here, in New York? Chad was spotted driving around in Hollywood just an hour before you say this happened, and everyone knows that Sonny's vanished into thin air!"

"Honestly, I'm not too sure. But I do have a theory on it, and it's something which could be quite valuable to you." James waved the image in front of Marshall's face, and pulled it away as he reached out to grab it.

"Well, tell me!"

"They're still together."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Listen to me! My theory is that because they'd been getting a lot of bad press recently, they pretended to break up so idiots like you would leave them alone. Trust me. I've been involved in that business once upon a time – I know how these people's minds work."

"That doesn't explain anything, James."

"I know. I haven't finished yet. They're actually still together, but they need to find ways to see each other without anyone knowing. Is this making sense to you?"

The older man silently nodded.

"Okay. Well, I think that Chad's using decoys, so that he gets 'spotted' in LA and no-one suspects anything, and Sonny's supposedly run away, but really, she's just hiding somewhere. And after what I saw, I think they're both in New York _right now_."

James sighed. He kind of wished he _hadn't _quit his acting career, after the epic performance of lies he had just thrown at the naive old guy. He felt like the best villain ever right now. He did still have Chad to worry about though… And Sonny? Well, no-one wouldn't have to worry about her for a while.

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**I don't even know what I'm on about with this :P**

**Well, review :D**

**-Sarah.**


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